On a deceptively cold Saturday morning in April, two teenagers wearing green tracksuits slunk off the 7 train at Mets–Willets Point in Queens. Ignoring the early ticket touts for the New York Mets' defeat by the Washington Nationals later in the day, the aspiring athletes headed away from Citi Field and into Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. These boys weren't here for baseball or tennis, but for a chance to play soccer with the reborn New York Cosmos.

On 20 April, while shivering on the sidelines and waiting for youth games to clear Soccer Field One, the Queens tryout felt and looked a very long way from the glitz of the original Cosmos. Yet it seemed fitting for the latest version of this famous name. When I spoke to the Cosmos's chief operating officer, Erik Stover, he acknowledged the contradictions of what he calls a "start-up club", nonetheless referring to its "history, passion and positive memories" and declaring the goal of the Cosmos to be to become "the best-run club and the best team on the pitch in all of North America". He also talked of "balancing expectations" and of being "humble, realistic, open and transparent". Stover believes that the club has to begin slowly, and "ramp up".

Flushing Meadows Park was one starting place. Around 80 hopefuls huddled on bleachers as the Cosmos head coach, Giovanni Savarese, explained the trial ahead before sending them on to the field with the words: "Have fun. Remember, this is still a game."

The positive atmosphere continued as the players ran through a series of drills and mini-games. Understandably, they were of mixed abilities, but the games were fair and competitive. One rookie, wearing shinpads outside his socks, admitted he had played soccer only once before. Most of the trialists were college players, while others admitted to only kicking a ball around with their friends. A Cosmos staff member told me that three goalkeepers over the age of 50 had signed up for the tryout in the Bronx. But the eventual winner of this trial, 23-year-old Sam Archer of Cambria Heights, Queens, had experience in playing to impress. A former Rutgers forward, he was chosen in an open tryout with the Chicago Fire and joined the MLS club on a pre-season training camp in January.

A pivotal time for New York soccer

The New York Cosmos have grand plans for a stadium of their own. Photograph: New York Cosmos

This is a pivotal time for New York soccer, and the Cosmos are not the only new arrival on the horizon. It was ironic that these tryouts were held a decent goal-kick from the site where MLS, aided by the New York Yankees and Manchester City, may plant a second New York-area franchise, New York City FC. The Cosmos, however, have ambitious plans for a new home of their own, only a few miles away in Belmont. The plans are currently under consideration by the planners.

This was the Cosmos's day in Flushing, however. The Unisphere, the stainless steel centerpiece of the 1964 New York World's Fair that was held in the park, loomed in the background. And as errant soccer balls skipped over park paths named Avenue of Commerce and Promenade of Industry, the mind wandered, inevitably, to faded grandeur. Further away, the shamefully neglected New York State Pavilion peeked over proceedings and next door, decaying, stood the modernist Observation Towers that confuse travellers speeding into Manhattan and welcome New Yorkers home from JFK airport, their Sky Streak capsule elevators rusted. Flushing Meadows Park could do with some of the rehabilitation the Cosmos are currently enjoying.

As the day warmed up, the tryouts attracted more spectators. At one corner of the pitch, a group of Latinos appeared with a boombox and sang along with the aid of a tambourine. On the other side of the field, a family unpacked a picnic. Four Cosmos coaches took charge of a team each and put great pride in the results against their colleagues' teams. After some unfortunate but necessary cuts, the remaining trialists played an All-Star game on the full-size pitch.

After the tryout, Savarese said it had been "great". "We saw a lot of players," he said.

They were very excited to be here. They all gave their best. We'll select one player out of this tryout. I think definitely the quality of the players who came to this tryout was better than in Brooklyn. It was a good day to see players play soccer.

Pelé leads the New York Cosmos on to the field in their late-70s heyday. Photograph: Robert Riger/Getty Images

When I asked Savarese if the tryouts were also a good publicity tool, he agreed that raising awareness of the Cosmos is important. "This trial is a little bit of everything," said the former Metrostars, New England Revolution and Swansea City forward. "It's looking at talent, giving information, building community relations. It's been a good situation for us all-round." Two local trialists admitted they hadn't heard of the Cosmos before the tryouts, yet enthusiastically added that they would now be fans.

Stover said that getting out into the city will be a vital component of the new Cosmos. "Community outreach is core to our being. It's part of our DNA," he said. "We talk a lot about being a proper soccer club and we are not a proper soccer club without having a connection to the neighborhoods and representing New York well."

Whether the winners of this competition line up for the Cosmos in August or not, auditioning players in every New York borough was a first step in this direction.